May 2023 was a difficult year for students of both GCSE and A levels. It was the final year of the wind-down of support after Covid. In the same way as 2022 results were allowed to drop back towards 2019 levels. For individual students this makes no real difference as for most the next step is based on your results compared to others in your year group nationally, but students from 2021 or 2022 who delayed their progress a year (for 6th form or university) do have a distinct advantage as their results are about 10% higher.
Teachers will get used to the new norm quite quickly but most (including us) did not give a prediction of success then reduce it by 10%. The final difference for students will become clearer once grade boundaries for subjects are published by the exam boards later this year, but in practice most students seem to have gained passes a grade lower than we were expecting.
So for our students – no fails but fewer 7-9 grades (or A/A* for A level), but most still feel a bit deflated that results didnt match their school or our predicted grades.
Next year’s exams will be judged by the same statistical methods as used in 2019 and schools and tutors predicted grades will be much more in line with final outcomes next August.
The impact on students and parents was not much, everyone still got into their preferred next stage and we congratulate all of our students on their success.